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Department of Resources

Graduate Excellence Program

The Graduate Excellence Program is a 12-month program that enables you to build on your university studies and launch your career in a supportive environment.

2024 Graduate Excellence Program

Applications for our 2024 Graduate Excellence Program will open in August 2023.

Other entry level roles (classified as PO2 and AO3) are advertised throughout the year on the Queensland Government Smart Jobs and Careers page.

The Graduate Excellence Program is a structured leadership development program that offers challenging and rewarding opportunities with real responsibility and accountability. It includes a mix of on-the-job experience and formal training workshops to complement and expand on what you are learning in your daily work and assist you in your transition from study to full-time employment.

In addition to the formal learning and development, you will receive coaching and mentoring from a robust support network of leaders and graduate alumni.

Benefits

  • A competitive salary that increases after 12 months, and includes up to 12.75% employer superannuation contributions plus leave loading
  • Generous leave provisions, including up to 5 weeks paid recreation leave (depending on location), 10 days sick leave and flex days
  • Exclusive graduate learning and development opportunities
  • Work-life balance with a 36.25 hour working week.
  • Flexible work such as work from home opportunities, work from distributed work centres (different to your primary workplace), compressed hours, different start/finish times, part-time hours and flexitime.
  • A supportive, inclusive, and respectful departmental culture where you can bring your true self to work
  • Discounted fitness membership programs, free employee assistance program, and other health and wellbeing initiatives
  • Study and research assistance schemes to help you with further study

Degrees we recruit

We recruit graduates from a range of degrees including (but not limited to):

  • Business
  • Communications
  • Data analytics/science
  • Economics
  • Engineering (particularly mining, mechanical and petroleum)
  • Environmental science
  • Environmental management
  • Geology
  • Geoscience
  • Information technology
  • Law
  • Policy
  • Property
  • Surveying
  • Spatial information/technology

Eligibility

To be eligible for the 2024 Graduate Excellence Program you must:

  • have completed at least an Australian Qualifications Framework Level 7 qualification (a Bachelor degree), or higher
  • have completed your degree between 1 January 2022 and the commencement of the program in February 2024
  • be an Australian citizen, New Zealand citizen or permanent resident and have permission, under Commonwealth law, to work in Australia
  • pass a criminal history and employment check (these will be completed as part of the recruitment process).

Contact the friendly Recruitment team via RecruitmentHR@resources.qld.gov.au if you have any questions.

Meet some of our 2023 graduates

Samuel Daniels, Graduate Engagement Officer

What I studied: Bachelor of Communication (Journalism and Public Relations) and Bachelor of Arts (Honours) majoring in Journalism Research and Media Communications Research at Griffith University.

What I do now: I work in the Office of the Deputy Director-General, Lands. I am responsible for internal and external community engagement and communication across the division.

Why Resources: The Graduate Excellence Program appealed to me because it contains a diverse set of learning and development opportunities that span across various projects, programs and people. I am excited to grow both professionally and personally through these interactions and experiences.

Nathan Eban, Graduate Communications Officer

What I studied: Bachelor of Communication (Professional Communication) at Queensland University of Technology.

What I do now As a Graduate Communication Officer for the Department of Resources, I assist the Internal Communications team with the running and management of the Department’s LinkedIn, Yammer (Viva Engage), and Intranet pages. Producing thoughtful and refreshing content helps to increase employee productivity and inform them aware of important information. It also promotes engagement between all the Department’s levels, which breaks down barriers and creates cohesive teams.

Why Resources: I applied for the 2023 Graduate Excellence Program in response to the overwhelming praise that I had heard about it from colleagues and friends alike. I am eager to work on meaningful projects through the Program, and hopefully meet lots of new people along the way.

Disha Kalal, Graduate Data Engineer

What I studied: Masters in Information Technology (majoring in data science) at Queensland University of Technology.

What I do now: I am a Graduate Data Engineer. I am responsible for managing and developing data integration pipelines, data storage structures, data cleansing and data availability for data analysis.

Why Resources: The Graduate Excellence Program offers exclusive graduate learning and development opportunities within the Department of Resources. I am excited to learn new skills from my co-workers and gain experience in the field of data science.

Jack Lamb, Graduate Human Resource Officer

What I studied: Bachelor of Business Management (Human Resourcing) at the University of Queensland.

What I do now: I provide human resource management support and advice to the Georesources division on all human resourcing activities – including recruitment, reporting, and maintaining establishment details.

Why Resources: The Department of Resources has provided me with great experience and fantastic team members and supervisors to learn from in both my team of HR Georesources and the wider HR Operations team.

Holly Gordon, Graduate Natural Resource Management Officer

What I studied: Bachelor of Science (Biology) and Bachelor of Communications (Professional) at Queensland University of Technology.

What I do now: I get to work out in the field, or in the office to support and assist research of native title claims across Queensland. This involves manually surveying land parcels, preparing reports, and communicating with stakeholders to get the best possible outcomes.

Why Resources: I wanted to participate in the Graduate Excellence Program to meet and work with others who are passionate about natural resource management. I also am excited to produce real-world outcomes and see those changes implemented throughout Queensland.

Lily Bradshaw, Graduate Natural Resource Management Officer

What I studied: Bachelor of Environmental Management at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

What I do now: I work on pre-lodgement requests and development applications in our Planning Services business area. I also contribute to local planning instruments and planning schemes, and regional planning interests.

Why Resources: The Graduate Excellence Program offers a supportive environment where you develop crucial and foundational workplace skills. After I finished my degree, I was not sure what area or type of career I wanted to pursue. Through participating in the Graduate Excellence Program, I will gain exposure to different areas that I could find a passion in.

Rachela Mura, Graduate Natural Resource Management Officer

What I studied: Bachelor of Environmental Science at Southern Cross University

What I do now: Graduate Natural Resource Management Officer within the Land Resource Assessment and Science team, specifically the soils team. The soils team collects, stores, manages, and delivers soil data for Queensland. The work involves describing soils, understanding how soil behaves, its strengths, its weaknesses and spatial variability. This information outlines the soil’s resilience and informs advice for landscape suitability, capability, and soil conservation.

Why Resources: I chose the Department of Resources to enhance my skills in natural resource management, here I will gain an understanding of how resources are managed, conserved, and communicated on at a state level. I am excited to work for Resources as I will gain experience in GIS, soil characterisation and technical advice on landscape science, soil physics and chemistry.

Serena Van De Velde, Graduate Natural Resource Management Officer

What I studied: Bachelor of Sustainability (Governance and Regulation) at the University of New England.

What I do now: I work primarily in the development approval space as well as doing a bit of compliance work. You'll also find me on the Vegetation Hub answering all things veg related!

Why Resources: As a young professional, the wide range of opportunities for growth and development is what really appealed to me about the Department of Resources. The Graduate Excellence Program provides an amazing opportunity for personal development and interdepartmental collaboration. This is a great way to make new connections and diversify your learnings and experiences.

Yasmin Dubois, Graduate Valuer

What I studied: Bachelor of Property and Real Estate at Deakin University, Melbourne.

What I do now: As a graduate valuer with the State Valuation Services in Cairns, I assist the Valuer-General in providing independent advice in the assessment and issuing of statutory land valuations for rateable properties across Far North Queensland.

Why Resources: I joined the Department of Resources to gain experience in providing statutory valuations with the support of a large departmental network, which also aids in development of my skills as a property valuer.

Mahdi Hasan, Graduate Spatial Information Officer

What I studied: Master of Environment (Climate Change Adaptation) at Griffith University and Bachelor of Science (Environmental Management) at Independent University, Bangladesh.

What I do now: I am working to improve the quality of our extensive historic aerial photography (HAP) metadata records, to ensure their accuracy and better link the metadata with our digitised records. My work is contributing to the discoverability of our collection by government, industry, and the public through QImagery.

I recently started learning how to create 3D reality mesh products using data from our aerial imagery program. This project uses software to link common features between multiple images to generate a 3D model over an area. The objective of this work is to create reality meshes for multiple towns across Queensland, which can then be made accessible in Queensland Globe.

Why Resources: I was keen to contribute to the decision-making process in the responsible and sustainable management of our state’s resources. I was also keen to enhance my knowledge and skills in spatial information. As the Department of Resources has access to state-wide spatial data, it was evident that the Department of Resources was a great choice!

Last reviewed: 28 March 2023